New Eden was founded in Los Angeles, CA in 1993 by guitarist Horacio Colmenares, who at the time was also a member of Steel Prophet. They came into the scene with a refreshing take on power metal. They play ultra technical progressive power metal, and has quite an unique style.

THROUGH THE MAKE BELIEVE (1997) SENTINEL STEEL

New Eden is a highly progressive power/speed metal band from the US. The music is very heavy, very fast, but at the same time very precise and well played. The vocals are of the helium infused kind, which only helps to fuel the speed metal legacy. I also totally love the use of acoustic guitars here and there, such as in the opening title track. Imagine a cross between Watchtower, Cynic and Helstar and you might get the idea! 'Through The Make Believe' was the bands first full-length album, released 3 years after the bands first self released demo, 'Savage Garden'. The album was released through Sentinel Steel Records, but produced by band leader Horatio Colmenares. 'Through The Make Believe' got the band some recognition, and many fans, including me, thinks of this album as the bands shining moment. In 1988 the band hired James Rivera (Helstar, Seven Witches, Distant Thunder etc.) as their new vocalist, and a new demo was recorded. The band got signed to Nuclear Blast, but soon 3 of the 5 members joined James and formed Destiny's End instead. The liner-notes also lists one "Gordon Shumway" as the one who mixed this album. An avid metal fan should know who hides behind that alias. But it turns out that there exists two version of this album, and only one of them was mixed by "Gordon Shumway" (aka Bill Metoyer). My CD is the other mix, often referred to as the guitar mix. The only visible difference between the two version are the matrix number on the CD itself (thanks to Han for the info).

Killer tracks: Nightmare, Captive Soul, Sepuku, Now That You Have Gone, Sunshine

OBSCURE MASTER PLAN (1999) NUCLEAR BLAST

I was turned on to this band after reading about them on the No Life 'Til Metal website. I already liked Destiny's End, and thought these guys were similar, since they share so many members. But I guess that was only true on their debut album. Because after a short stint with James Rivera on vocals, New Eden returns with a totally revamped line-up. It's still the same musical nature though, delivering ultra-tight progressive speed metal. Man, this album was hard to get into. After listening to the whole disc, I actually feel physically tired. Well, maybe not. But it's not far from the truth, 'cause the music is neck-breaking! You will hear new stuff every time you return to this CD. They don't make 'em like this any more!

Killer tracks: Evil Logic, Epitaph

New Eden also appear on:

V/A - 'A Tribute To Accept'

AxeHammer - 'Windrider' (as pre-production producer)

Related artists:

Destiny's End, Helstar, Steel Prophet, Seven Witches, Redemption, Vicious Rumors, Onward, Distant Thunder, AxeHammer